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The ED had alleged that Bhujbal and his family members had received kickbacks from construction firm K S Chamankar for the construction of ‘Maharashtra Sadan’ in 2006.
NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal
A Mumbai court on Friday discharged NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal and his family members in a 2006 money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) pertaining to the construction of the alleged Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi.
Bhujbal was arrested in 2016 and spent over two years in jail before the Bombay High Court granted him bail in 2018, after the ED alleged that he and his family members had received kickbacks from construction firm K S Chamankar for the construction of Maharashtra Sadan in 2006, when Bhujbal was Maharashtra’s PWD minister.
The probe agency had claimed the construction company had transferred money to firms in which the minister’s son, Pankaj, and nephew Sameer Bhujbal were directors.
A special court on Friday accepted the discharge application of the senior NCP leader and other accused in the case, a lawyer told news agency PTI. The ED case is based on a FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against the NCP leader and his kin. Bhujbal and others were cleared of all charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Bhujbal’s lawyers argued that since the NCP leader and others were discharged in 2021 in the corresponding case filed in connection with the alleged Maharashtra Sadan scam by Maharashtra’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the ED case cannot continue as per a previous Supreme Court order, according to The Indian Express.
What Was The Case?
The ACB had registered a case against Bhujbal and others in 2015 following a PIL in the Bombay High Court that sought a probe into alleged irregularities in the awarding of contracts worth over Rs 100 crore for three projects in 2006, when Bhujbal served as the PWD minister. However, the Bhujbals were discharged in the ACB case in 2021.
A separate case alleging money laundering was then filed by the ED. It is alleged that the original cost estimate for Maharashtra Sadan was Rs 13.5 crore, but was later increased to Rs 50 crore. As per the ED, Bhujbal got Rs 13.5 crore in kickbacks from the firm, which earned a profit of about Rs 190 crore from the construction of Maharashtra Sadan and other PWD works.
However, the Bhujbals contended that no evidence was found against them and that they were discharged in 2021, arguing that the ED case cannot proceed on that basis. They also maintained that the ACB’s discharge order has attained finality, as it has not been set aside by the High Court since 2021.
January 23, 2026, 6:57 PM IST
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